Same here. After a LONGGG phone call cradling the receiver while trying to type, etc., I had my neck spasm severely -- so much so that the following day someone else had to drive me to urgent care (1). They prescribed a strong muscle relaxant in combination with either Percocet or Vicadin -- I forget which.
I switched over to the default over the counter dose of ibuprofen, and it worked better than the combination of those two "heavy duty" prescription drugs.
I will say, though, that doctors in the U.S. have been damned cavalier about ibuprofen. One doctor with a popular radio show would cite the nickname, "Vitamin I", and routinely tell people to use it non-stop for a month or two.
I've found that now, a few days on it will make me rather lethargic. My cardio strength and sometimes rhythm feels impaired. And lo, there are studies now coming out that indicate it may carry as much risk as Vioxx and the like.
(Incidentally, a doctor prescribed me Vioxx a month or two before it was yanked from the market. I questioned this, remarking on recent news I'd read indicating it had problems. He had no clue and told me it was perfectly safe. Sure, it was still on the market, then, but he appeared to have no clue about the looming controversy.)
With any medicine, it really seems TANSTAAFL. You have to carefully weigh the benefit against known as well as suspected risks. And the U.S. medical system completely falls down in not fully informing not just patients but also doctors to the existence and nature of these.
1) Well, that urgent care experience -- a new facility opened by the premier area hospital -- was itself a horrible experience. Deserted facility, by all appearances, yet it took about 2.5 hours to see a doctor. Who gave me no neck brace; family took me to their chiropractor, the next day, who DID give me a neck brace -- which provided the first real relief and stopped me from constantly retriggering the injury with every movement.
To be clear, I refuse to have my neck cracked. And the chiropractor wouldn't have, at that point, anyway, given my severe spasming. But at least he had the sense to immobilize my neck. (Then he provided some ongoing care to encourage the release and healing of the spasming. To whatever extent this may have helped, that initial immobilization was key. WTF was wrong with that fully credentialed MD serving the urgent care's rather extensive ER facility?)